Transit, political officials convene

June 23, 2011

By Ray Gronberg
DURHAM -- Triangle Transit's board and the local Transportation Advisory Committee on Wednesday cleared the decks for Durham County Commissioners to decide soon on whether they'll hold a fall referendum on a sales-tax surcharge to pay for new transit routes.

The two groups voted to approve the financing plan for the new bus and rail lines officials hope to open or build with the money the half-percent surcharge would help raise.

Triangle Transit leaders also voted to set up a one-county special tax district for Durham spelling out in legal terms where the surcharge would apply.

The trio of votes were all preliminary steps state law requires before Durham can schedule a referendum or use any of the money it gleens from the surcharge.

Thanks to them, Durham commissioners can debate the issue Monday night "knowing the two agencies with the most jurisdiction [over transit] have looked at this and find it acceptable," said David King, Triangle Transit's general manager.

The plan endorsed Wednesday calls for an expansion of the bus network deployed by King's agency and the Durham Area Transit Authority.

It also envision development of two rail systems, one running mostly at peak hours along existing tracks to link Durham to communities to the east, the other an all-new light-rail system linking Durham to Chapel Hill.

Construction of the light-rail system depends on officials convincing the federal and state governments to pick up 75 percent of its estimated $1.4 billion construction cost. The peak-hour "commuter rail" service likely could be paid for solely with local funds.

Wednesday's board and committee meetings weren't the only preparatory moves officials made that day for the upcoming County Commissioners vote.

Mayor Bill Bell, Durham County Commissioner Ellen Reckhow and Triangle Transit General Counsel Wib Gulley also traveled to Duke University on Wednesday to meet with three of the school's top executives.

Reckhow said afterward that they briefed Duke Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and other officials on the transit plan and answered questions.

Duke officials are likely to issue a letter endorsing the document soon, she added. The school will stay neutral on the sales surcharge, in part because of its tax-exempt status under state law.

During Wednesday Triangle Transit board meeting Durham City Councilman Howard Clement quizzed King and Reckhow on preparations for the fall campaign. He wanted assurances that advocates of the system had lined up the necessary political support.

"Time to me is of the essence," Clement said. "A vote in November will be here before we know it."

King said he believes key business groups like the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Transportation Alliance "will both be heavily involved" in the campaign, although the alliance would have preferred a three-county tax vote also including Wake and Oranges counties.

Clement made it clear he also would have preferred a three-county move. But county leaders in both Wake and Orange said they'll wait until 2012 to call referenda of their own.

Orange County Commissioner Alice Gordon told both groups Wednesday that her board wants to cooperate but isn't ready yet to endorse elements of Durham plan that affect their community.

That includes a cost-sharing deal that calls for Orange to pay for a stretch of the light-rail system in the Durham County section of Chapel Hill, she said.

Orange commissioners in agreeing to wait on a referendum in their county said also agreed to hold off on approving their county's transit-expansion plan.
 

Original published on June 23, 2011.  Copyright 2011 The Herald-Sun. All rights reserved.

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648